'Moonlight' by Erté, 1990
Model 1019.
Collab. with Art of Time x SevenArts Ltd.
2 Inches dia. (watch)
17 Inches (chain)
4.8 x 4.8 x 1.4 Inches (box)
Flower-shaped art deco pocketwatch in hand-applied enamel and stainless steel chain.
Limited Edition (Sold Out)
Erté embossed signature on watch + box.
New in original display box.

ARTIST BIO

Romain de Tirtoff (1892 – 1990) was a Russian-born French artist and designer known by the pseudonym Erté. He was a 20th-century artist and designer in an array of fields, including fashion, jewelry, graphic arts, costume and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor.

Erté is perhaps most famous for his elegant fashion designs which capture the art deco period in which he worked. One of his earliest successes was designing apparel for the French dancer Gaby Deslys who died in 1920. His delicate figures and sophisticated, glamorous designs are instantly recognizable, and his ideas and art still influence fashion into the 21st century. His costumes, program designs, and sets were featured in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923, many productions of the Folies Bergère, Bal Tabarin, Théâtre Fémina, Le Lido and George White's Scandals. On Broadway, the celebrated French chanteuse Irène Bordoni wore Erté's designs.

By far, his best-known image is Symphony in Black, depicting a somewhat stylized, tall, slender woman draped in black holding a thin black dog on a leash. The influential image has been reproduced and copied countless times.

Erté continued working throughout his life, designing revues, ballets, and operas. He had a major rejuvenation and much lauded interest in his career during the 1960s with the Art Deco revival. He branched out into the realm of limited edition prints, bronzes, and wearable art.

Two years before his death, Erté created seven limited edition bottle designs for Courvoisier to show the different stages of the cognac-making process, from distillation to maturation. In 2008, the eighth and final of the remaining Erte-designed Courvoisier bottles, containing Grande Champagne cognac dating back to 1892, was released and sold for $10,000 apiece.

Good (See Photos)

2 in